A DIVINE EXPLANATION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story:

“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’”

“I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’”

“The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.”

“Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’”

“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as He had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

Acts 11:1-18

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Through the course of my many, many years of teaching, there have been more than a few occasions where people has chose to target and criticize me for certain things I may have said or done in the name of the Lord, often before allowing me to provide a defense.

In each instance, my critics have been brought to understand why I may have said what I said, wrote what I wrote, or did what I did after I provided a divine explanation, one grounded in the truth of God’s word or the testimony of how His Spirit moved in my situations.

As we continue our study of the Book of Acts by moving to the eleventh chapter, we find Peter returning to Jerusalem, fresh off his amazing, successful time with a Roman centurion Cornelius along with his relatives and friends, a time that saw devout, God-fearing believers receive the Gospel and the Holy Spirit before being baptized.

The scriptures tell us that word of what had happened in Caesarea quickly traveled throughout Judea and so as Peter returned to Israel’s spiritual capital, he faced heavy criticism from the Jews there, those who were circumcised, because Peter had associated and affiliated himself with the uncircumcised men (that is, the Gentiles who were considered unclean).

How did Peter respond to the condemnation?

We read where he took the time to explain everything that happened, that the Lord had come upon him while in a time of prayer and prepared him for encountering Cornelius and those gathered with him. During that vision, Peter was taught that he had no right to call anything impure that God had made pure. In the case of the Gentiles, God deemed that they were just as entitled to salvation as the Jews, uncircumcised or not, and therefore were deemed worthy by the Lord of receiving the Gospel and the Holy Spirit as well as be baptized.

Peter then tells how Cornelius, the Roman centurion and Gentile, had also received a message from the Lord in prayer, demanding that men be sent to Joppa to retrieve a man named Peter who had also been told by the Spirit to go with the men that Cornelius sent.

In other words, Peter was letting his Jewish critics know that he didn’t do anything that wasn’t first orchestrated by God. Neither he nor Cornelius had done anything on their own accord.

And so Peter did as he was told by God, just as Cornelius had done to bring him to Caesarea. And as he was sharing the good news of Jesus with them, the Holy Spirit came upon all those gathered, and it’s important that Peter added, “…as He had come on us at the beginning.” There wasn’t a special Jewish Holy Spirit and one for the Gentiles. No, the same Holy Spirit was poured out on both equally, a truth that led to Peter’s final question:

“So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

In other words, Peter was telling those who were objecting to what he had done, “What did you want me to do? Say no to God?”

We read where the light bulb came on for the Jews who had been critical of Peter. Through his divine explanation, they fully understood that no man could stand in God’s way when He had deemed for something to happen. The only response for a man when God commanded him to do something was to comply in complete obedience, which is exactly what Peter had done.

And so there wasn’t one of the Jews who rebuked Peter who had any “further objections”. In fact, we read where the men “praised God” while proclaiming:

“So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

God’s plan regarding the salvation of Cornelius as well as his relatives and friends continued to have an impact well after it happened and Peter’s divine explanation resulted in more Jewish apostles accepting the truth that God sent Jesus to save everyone, no matter their nationality, no matter their circumcision status.

Little by little, the God was removing barriers for people to be saved through His Son.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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